16 high-tech F-35B stealth fighters now deployed to Japan

The Marine Corps finished deploying a squadron of state-of-the-art stealth fighters to Japan Wednesday with the arrival of three F-35B Lighting IIs at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, which began flying its F-35Bs to the air station in January, now has a full complement of 16 aircraft.

The squadron — which five years ago became the first in the Marine Corps to receive the high-tech, single-engine, single-seat multirole jets — also became the first forward-deployed F-35 squadron when it moved to Iwakuni from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.